homecooked love, everyday
The Talagani is a cheese closely related to the traditional Greek Mastelo, Formaella and mostly with the Cypriot Halloumi. It is produced exclusively from sheep’s and goat’s milk and, like its cousins, has a robust texture that allows you to grill it even straight over …
Chutneys have only recently become popular in Greece, although dried and fresh fruit are used often in dishes and some traditional fruit leathers might be served with cheeses, the concept of savory marmalade, as I often have to describe it, is still quite new. When …
Slow cooked, winter dish to warm up our hearth and our hearts. Served from the pot family style with rustic bread and its thick gravy. Perfect to relax, strengthen and comfort us until the days grow longer again.
It is impressive how much two cuisines from opposites sides of Europe can be. Yet there are Greek and Irish dishes with striking similarities such as Moussakas and Shepherd’s pie or the Greek goat stew and the Irish Stew. This stew is made with all different kinds of stewing meat and root vegetables but traditionally preferred are mutton lamb or goat with potato, onion and broth. Older animals are preferred since they were mainly bred for their wool and milk. They give a much richer flavour and are more nutritious however but they require patience and careful cooking.
Here we try a version with more vegetables but also with a trick to make the dish more presentable for Sunday lunch. The goat needs slow and low roasting, which harder vegetables like carrots and parsnips or turnips can withstand, if they are cut into chunks while enriching the taste. Potatoes would end up half dissolved. As they don’t have much flavor to impart but rather absorb, we can keep them aside and add in the form of a topping towards the end.
Ingredients
Preheat the oven to 160 C. Coarsely chop all vegetables except the potatoes into chunks. Brown the goat in a well-heated flameproof pot and set aside. Return the pot to a medium heat and sauté the onion, leeks, celery, carrots, and parsnip for 5 minutes. Towards the end, add the garlic and the finely chopped rosemary and the meat. Pour over 1 liter of broth, cover and put in the hot oven for 1.5 hours until the goat is tender.
Cut the potatoes into 1 cm slices. Uncover the pot and add enough hot broth to cover if needed, season with salt and pepper, then cover with the potato slices. Press them a little into enter the broth, then lightly grease. Bake covered for 15′ then uncover and bake for another 15′, until the potatoes are golden and cooked through.
Youvarlakia is a traditional Greek soup featuring meat dumplings with rice and an “avgolemono” (egg and lemon) sauce. I had never tasted them growing up in Greece, since my expat Irish mom didn’t even know them. As I have no childhood memories, I felt quite …
Fresh wild salmon is almost impossible to find in Greece. As most fish grow thinner in winter, frozen salmon fillets are a quick and reliable source of ω3 fats and are usually perfectly paired with winter broccoli. Purple broccoli is available at farmers’ markets from …
While chicken soup is the consolation prize during the winter’s viruses, this pumpkin soup is for cold blustery days, that feeling you might be coming down with something, even to cheer you up with its vivid color and its sweet and spicy taste, guaranteed to brighten the dark winter months.
In our house there is always homemad bone broth hanging around the kitchen, sometimes simmering for hours on the hob, others counting days down in the fridge, always waiting patiently in the freezer. Our magic kitchen genie always ready to to impart flavour and enrich all our dishes. This soup does not ask for much, a few roughly chopped vegetables and some broth, prepped in 5-10 minutes and then gently simmering away. It’s very simple, but so very rewarding.
Ingredients
In a large pot, sauté the of onion, leek and carrots in oil over a high heat for 5′. Add the pumpkin and spices and stir well. Sauté for another 2′ and then add the broth. Cover and simmer for 40 ‘ until the carrots are well softened. Blend until smooth with an immersion blender. Season with salt and pepper and let it simmer for 3 minutes.
Serve with rustic bread and a spoonful of crème fraîche or yogurt.
Giouvetsi is a traditional Sunday family dinner dish, typically made with stewed meat baked in a clay pot with orzo pasta. Though in modern years veal is the meat most commonly used, yearling lamb or goat were the traditional choice. The full sweet taste of …
Perfect for a sweet breakfast or snack, like apple pie filling with cinnamon, cloves and ginger. Delicious and ready in under 10 minutes.
The fresher a vegetable is when consumed, the sweeter and tastier it is. In Athens we are very fortunate to have a weekly farmers’ market in each neighborhood. If you take the children together to help with the selection, you will see them much more positive towards the vegetables you serve at dinner time.
Especially in winter, quiches and tarts are such a great solution for a quick lunch with a salad or as a snack for the office or school in their mini version. I prefer to make the roll the pastry thin just enough to support the nutritious filling with vegetables, cold cuts, eggs and dairy without too much starch.
For the dough
For the dough I always prefer the one here, because it bakes well without having to chill it before and after rolling or even bake it blind. This makes it really quick and easy to put together. Alternatively, ready to roll pastry will do.
For the stuffing
Preheat oven to 160 C. Add broccoli to boiling water for 3 minutes to blanche and strain well. Add the slices of bacon to a cold pan, then render the fat over a medium heat. Remove it when it is cooked and saute the leek in the fat for 2 minutes. First spread the leek onto the pastry case, then top with the broccoli and bacon in pieces. Beat the eggs with the crème fraîche, the cheese and pepper and pour over the tart. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden and set. Alternatively, you can make mini tarts that will be done in about 20 minutes.
The publication of the magazine “Gastronomos” coincided with the time when I was looking for more than just collections of recipes in cookbooks. “Gastronomos” was talking about the origin and production of ingredients, the culture of dining, with love for good home-cooked food. It is …